Case Study: Local Celebrity

The Greene County Historical Society in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania holds a carte-de-visite size photograph album connected to the Cathers, Inghram, Lindsey, Munnell, and related families. In the album is a CDV captioned “Jesse Lazear.” The photographer stamp credits Whitehurst Gallery, 434 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.[1] This photograph shows up again, in combination with another pose from the same sitting, captioned as Jesse Lazear, as a loose CDV in the orphaned images of GCHS and also of the Waynesburg University Paul R. Stewart Museum.[2]

This popular photo has made not
only these three archived appearances, but it has also made itself present in
family photograph collections and research questions submitted by private
families to the Greene Connections: Greene County, Pennsylvania Archives
Project. Whether the image appears (1) captioned as Jesse Lazear, (2) captioned
with an ancestor’s name, or (3) without a caption at all, it has been cause for
further research. In the first case, who is this man with a name that does not
fit into the family tree? In the second and third, if this is an ancestor, why
would he have had a photograph taken in Washington, D.C.? Did he reside there,
or did he travel to visit or attend a special event?

This CDV is an albumen print taken in the early 1860s. The beaver pelt collar was at its height in popularity and a cravat was still commonly worn around his neck, the latter was a style donned in larger form during the 1850s, but narrowing and beginning to look like a bow tie in the 1860s.[3] There is no revenue stamp on the back of the card-mount, as would have been common during the Civil War, specifically from 1 August 1864 to 1 August 1866.[4] So due to the early-decade fashions he is wearing and the lack of a revenue stamp, this picture was most likely taken prior to 1 August 1864.

Private photograph collections very often feature faces from outside of the family. By the 1860s, tintypes and CDVs were being produced in multiples and traded among friends. Both styles fit neatly into popular photograph albums, and photographers made the most of the trend by reproducing images to sell of famous figures: royal families, politicians, war heroes, and stars of the performing arts.[5] Consequently, it is not uncommon to find Ulysses S. Grant or Abraham Lincoln staring out from Civil War era albums a few pages from a great-great-grandfather. Though not images of family members, these famous photos still tell us about our ancestors’ political views or give us a snippet of insight into their interests or sense of humor.

More common and more difficult to
discern, are photos of friends, neighbors, and local celebrities such as
popular community leaders, teachers, preachers, and others who frequent family
albums. These images are less recognizable and do not immediately stand out to
be non-family. They are often produced by the same local photographers, who
took the family portraits and are consequently similar in studio appearance,
card mount, and photographer marks. A study of the ancestor’s community is the
best way to solve these mysteries. If an image is captioned, compare the
caption to rosters of classmates, lists of fellow congregants, neighbors in
Census records, and so on. Captioned or uncaptioned photos both can be viewed
against pictorial histories, yearbooks, institutional archives (i.e. church,
school, fraternal or veteran groups), and community web sites that provide
opportunities for photo sharing.

Caption Analysis

In this case, we find Jesse Lazear among the rolls of local politicians. He was Greene County’s representative in Congress during the Civil War, having been elected to the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1861-March 3, 1865).[6] Jesse sat for famous wartime photographer Mathew Brady in 1865, providing an excellent identified image for comparison.[7] The popular CDV described above may have been developed from this very photo shoot. It was likely taken during his first term in office and circulated to his supporters back home. Even though Jesse lived his later years in the Washington, D.C. area, he was born, spent much of his active life in, and ultimately was buried in Greene County, Pennsylvania. Upon word of his death reaching friends in town, the Waynesburg Republican solemnly declared, “There is perhaps no person now living so universally well known and respected in Greene county.”[8] This explains why he frequently appears in local collections of his era.

As to incidents of this photo
appearing with captions naming family members instead of Jesse Lazear, these
may indicate to whom the photo was given as opposed to who is in the photo.
This is a frequent problem in any type of photo caption analysis and is a
primary reason for testing the caption. It is also possible that in more than a
century of photo ownership, notations have been added to the original image by
a well-meaning relative who simply misidentified the image. Though captions are
always a strong starting point for investigation, they must be treated like any
other document in genealogical research. We must consider the evidence of a
handwritten notation against other sources and be ready to reconsider our
conclusion if new evidence comes to light.

During the early years of the Civil
War, Jesse Lazear, aged in his late 50s, was serving as Greene County,
Pennsylvania’s representative to the United States Congress in Washington
D.C. These facts make him the right age
at the right place at the right time to be the subject of the Carte-de-Visite
photograph that so often bears his name. His local celebrity status explains
his image’s frequency in local collections. Finally, the well-documented
photograph taken by the era’s famous photographer, Mathew Brady, provides a
timely photo comparison to confirm the Lazear caption. It is reasonable to
assume that any other captions found on this image were either written with an
intention other than to identify the subject (such as to whom a photo was
given) or were simply errors in identification.